Draft Express Recap of RMR Hawks vs. Jazz

[hotboyj]

Utah 98, Atlanta 76

Atlanta

Marvin Williams- Was the best player on the floor for the

Hawks tonight and was involved in a pair of incidents with

Rafael Araujo. In the first quarter Marvin anticipated a pass

and stole it and appeared to be going up for the dunk at the

other end. But Araujo had hustled back and just as Marvin was

jumping Araujo catches his arms and the ball at about waist

height. This caused Marvin flip over and land hard on his

side. Because it was a dangerous play Araujo was assessed a

flagrant foul. In the second incident in the 3rd quarter

Araujo cut the hoop and is rewards with an excellent pass. And

he goes up to finish and his fouled and loses the ball on the

way up. However on the way down he swipes his hands down in a

way to knock Marvin Williams to the floor. Marvin Williams

bounced back up and tried to go after Araujo but was

restrained by his teammates. Araujo was assessed his 2nd

flagrant foul and ejected and Marvin was assessed a technical

foul. The crowd blamed Marvin for the fact that their local

favorite had been ejected and became hostile. They booed when

ever he touched the ball and jeered at him whenever play

stopped.

In the author’s opinion the first play was clean play, but a

hard one. But the second has no explanation other then it was

a dirty play that has no place in basketball.

In the 1st half Marvin Williams took advantage of his

quickness and athleticism to drive the ball into the paint on

every occasion drawing fouls and scoring. He was also

aggressive defensively.

In the 2nd half he began the same way but after the second

flagrant foul he seemed to get passive, until he was called to

the bench and spoken to by the Hawks staff. When reinserted to

the game he returned to his aggressive mindset.

Marvin had trouble all night when asked to play power forward

as he was overpowered, but he played very well as a small

forward.

Shelden Williams- Shelden had a quiet night. He got into

position and was fouled on a few occasions and managed to make

some free throws. His rebounding and defensive presence was

poor at best.

Salim Stoudimare- He hasn’t lost his excellent stroke from

long range and was effective driving the ball. He struggled to

contain Deron Williams but did good job on Dee Brown.

Solomon Jones- He displayed his hustle and athleticism coming

up with several rebounds and running the floor.

Utah

Deron Williams- Only played limited minutes but was dominant.

He set the tempo, played good defense, made a few great passes

and scored with floaters in the lane or deep jumpers. Deron

has announced he will only play in one more game.

Rafael Araujo-has lost a significant amount of weight and

moves better. He rebounded well and scored a few times with

good drives towards the basket. And of course he was ejected.

CJ Miles- Has put on a significant amount of weight and has

added some confidence. Rather than hesitating and putting a

hitch into his shot, he shoots smoothly and confidently. His

added strength helped him to rebound much more effectively. He

still needs to work on his defensive fundamentals, and was

caught reaching from time to time.

Ronnie Brewer- Brewer displayed the same all around game in he

did college. He played good defense, rebounded hard and scored

when the opportunity came. He could also see some time at

point with his excellent ball-handling and passing skills.

Dee Brown- Displayed great speed and ball-handling skills. He

shot the ball well and seemed to understand Sloan’s slow it

down style. Once Deron Williams leaves Dee should get more

time for a closer look.

Paul Millsap- Though only listed at 6’8”, played much bigger

then that. He found the boards as advertised and came up with

on emphatic block. He also showed good quickness and agility

defensively and to the loose balls. Often he would scoop up a

loose ball and begin to dribble down court. He also managed to

make a couple of hook shots over Shelden Williams. If he

continues to play like this, he should make Utah’s roster.

[DrReality]

Good to see Marvin be assertive with Aho. Clearly shows his maturity going into his second year. We heard a lot about how they brought him along slowly and we'll see this year if that will pay off.

Gotta say that the rest of the Hawks was disappointing, but it was only the first game.

[Final_quest]

I'm very disappointed in Shelden's first game, but I would like to point out something. Last year Marvin's summer league was abyssmal. He was shooting 3-9, 2-11, etc.

I'm saying buyer beware on Shelden for now, but let's not go crazy. Haven't we called all of our draft picks the past few years busts based on summer league play?

Simmer down.

Also, Utah's team seemed stacked compared to ours, and they had their starting PG playing for them. That's gotta be a huge plus to establishing offense.

[er9dverk]

here is the recap from hawks.com:

Hawks Lose RMR Opener to Utah Jazz

Jazz 98, Hawks 76

Salt Lake City, Utah (July 14, 2006) -- Despite strong offensive play from its second-year players, especially Marvin Williams, the Hawks dropped their opener in the 2006 Rocky Mountain Revue on Friday night, falling to the host Utah Jazz, 98-76, in Salt Lake City.

Atlanta struggled from the field early, hitting their first field goal with 4:24 remaining in the first quarter. But foul shooting kept Atlanta close, as they hit 10-16 from the charity stripe in the opening period, while Utah made just 1-1.

Utah extended the lead to as many as 17 in the second period, while Atlanta continued to miss the mark. The Hawks knocked down just 8-27 field goals in the first half, but stayed in contention by hitting 13-20 from the line. Salim Stoudamire in particular struggled early on, as he was 1-9 from the floor in the half. Anthony Grundy came in and provided a spark for the Hawks in the second period (recording three steals), but Atlanta still left the court down 12 (42-30) at the midway point.

As the Jazz began to put the game away midway through the third quarter, the game took a physical turn. With 5:45 to go in the period, Rafael Araujo was whistled for a technical foul for taking down Marvin Williams on a breakaway layup attempt. Since he was also called for a flagrant foul against Williams in the second quarter, Araujo was ejected from the contest.

Once order was restored, Utah’s Dee Brown hit three from long range late in the third quarter to help put the contest out of reach.

“We didn’t match Utah’s physicality tonight,” Hawks summer league head coach Larry Drew said. “We have to bounce back tomorrow, and take a step back in the right direction.”

Marvin Williams finished with a game-high 22 points for the Hawks, taking advantage of the physical play against him by knocking down 14-18 from the line. Stoudamire rebounded to finish with 20 (16 in the second half) on 8-17 field goals. Shelden Williams and Anthony Grundy added 8 points apiece. Deron Williams led the Jazz with 16, while C.J. Miles compiled 13.

The Hawks return to action on Saturday with a 7 p.m. ET contest against the Dallas Mavericks.

[flava]

good posts, thank you.

flava

[KB21]

Hawks fans that want to determine how good a player is based on his play in a summer league have the IQ of a goldfish.

[TexasPete]

People who blindly follow others despite their obvious incompetance have IQ's below goldfish.

Also, comparing Marvin's poor summer with Sheldens game last night is ridiculous. Marvin had just turned 19 and was drafted on UPSIDE. Shelden is 22 or 23 and was chosen because he was supposed to be ready. Look at all the guys that we passed...and then look at Shelden Williams.

If last night was any indication this was a bad draft pick...a total waste. He just isnt athletic...and he has no proven low post moves.

The worst part is how BK went about drafting this kid...just blow off the draft amd promise a kid who nobody wanted in the top 8 anyway. BK sucks and it really getting old watching him and his eccentric ways. He has a strange way of doing business.

[Guest]

Quote:

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People who blindly follow others despite their obvious incompetance have IQ's below goldfish.

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If you are referring to KB, then yes, thats true.

Quote:

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Also, comparing Marvin's poor summer with Sheldens game last night is ridiculous. Marvin had just turned 19 and was drafted on UPSIDE. Shelden is 22 or 23 and was chosen because he was supposed to be ready. Look at all the guys that we passed...and then look at Shelden Williams.

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Dude its been one game, give it a rest. If he is still performing badly in the pre-season, then you can get on him. But this is summer league, its ridiculous to start calling someone a bust after the whole summer league, nevertheless one game.

[herschel4heisman]

Quote:

---

People who blindly follow others despite their obvious incompetance have IQ's below goldfish.

Also, comparing Marvin's poor summer with Sheldens game last night is ridiculous. Marvin had just turned 19 and was drafted on UPSIDE. Shelden is 22 or 23 and was chosen because he was supposed to be ready. Look at all the guys that we passed...and then look at Shelden Williams.

If last night was any indication this was a bad draft pick...a total waste.

---

It's one game. Tim Duncan was toasted in his 1st summer league by the likes of Greg Ostertag.

[CBAreject]

I'm not going to say anything about Shelden, because I think this first game is meaningless...but I will say MILLSAP! I was shouting his name for 2 months, and we didn't really consider him. Just as this game means nothing for Shelden, you could argue the same for Millsap.

I still say we should've drafted Millsap. I like Shelden, but I think Millsap will be a similar quality NBA player, and we could've gotten him a round later. I would prefer Millsap/Roy for our two picks, and I was asking for the same 2 months before the draft and on draft night as well.

[Yubs]

Couple things stood out to me:

In the 1st half Marvin Williams took advantage of his

quickness and athleticism to drive the ball into the paint on

every occasion drawing fouls and scoring. He was also

aggressive defensively.

Drove the ball into the paint on EVERY occasion? Thats pretty awesome imo. Also, good to hear that small blurb about his defense.

In the 2nd half he began the same way but after the second

flagrant foul he seemed to get passive, until he was called to

the bench and spoken to by the Hawks staff. When reinserted to

the game he returned to his aggressive mindset.

Good to hear the coaching staff soothing Marvin's nerves down, and helping him refocus his attention on the game. Kids like Marvin need that.

Marvin had trouble all night when asked to play power forward

as he was overpowered, but he played very well as a small

forward.

Not too bothered by this, as a lot of us saw him as a small forward anyways. But if Marvin can keep up this style of play throughout SL, preseason, and into the infancy periods of the new season, then rejoice. Smith and Marvin would make a pretty neat forward tandem(Shelden prolly starts on the bench for a little while).